Come over to the dark side, Ben. Experience the joy of the timer and wake up to fresh coffee ready from the moment you open your eyes.

I've got a coffee maker that grinds the coffee and brews it at a preselect time. Oh, and it also has a water filter, but given that I already use filtered water to fill it it ain't that important. The grinder function doubles as my alarm clock, and by the time I get back from my morning jog the apartment is full with the bitter smell of good, strong coffee.

Being the first at work, I also brew coffee for the entire office - 40 cups of coffee in a percolator. The monster cost less than my coffee maker, and the coffee is just as good, but the convenience of setting up my morning coffee the evening before was worth the money.

I'm not sure what the problem is...it isn't like basic coffeemakers are no longer being offered. Besides, the added doodads may be unnecessary, but they do make for better coffee; as a former barista, I can tell you that coffee tastes absolutely better when the beans are ground right before brewing, and water can make a big difference, especially if you live in an area with hard water. And the flavor of brewed coffee begins to degenerate rapidly once it's made.

That said, the "water filter + grinder + timer" combo is awesome! Nothing beats waking up to the absolutely freshest coffee you can make. The only better thing would be to have an automatic roaster sitting right over that grinder.

i use a french press (aka dashpot) i bought at the thriftstore for $3*. I boil water on the stove. I use commodity grounds (Hills Bros). Works great, gives me an excellent kick-start in the morning.

So easy.

.max

*buy yours at the thriftstore, not some $$$ coffee shop place!!

French press FTW! It may take longer, but with decent coffee you can totally taste the difference. Just remember to use a larger grind. And pop some antioxidants, if you're paranoid about ldl. :-P

For the lazier bunch, Gevalia has a trial offer for $15. Coffee maker (clock, programmable drip time) + a couple boxes of their stuff. I tried the trial a couple months ago, but switched back to french press. Drip just can't match the flavor.

Doodads and functions aside, a well made coffeepot really is a HUGE difference than a budget Mr. Coffee. It all has to do with the heating system and the way the water is poured over the grounds.

Step 1. NEVER drink any pre-ground coffee. Anything that's pre-ground has already oxidized and lost all its flavor. Whole beans. From a good roaster.

Step 2. French Press is the best coffee - but buy a quality press. Bodum, my friend. It's the original design and its worth it. Lesser quality screens will let grounds through, and I assume you don't want to eat your coffee.

Here's the thing about the french press - in order to do it right, you reall need a burr grinder. This uses two plates with teeth that grind against each other ensuring a uniform grind. Your french press grounds need to be coarse enough to not pass through the screen but fine enough to capture all the flavor - this is impossible to do with a blad grinder. No mater what, you're going to get coffee dust in the blade grinder which will end up in your cup.

Step 3. Get a quality coffee pot. Fucntions be damned, a good $50 coffee pot is worth it. You can actually taste the difference - you also want a slower brew time, not a faster one. And pulling the pot out while still brewing will ruin the proportions of the whole pot.

Come to Bloomington and I'll make you a real cup of coffee in a french press and a drip brewer. I'll tell you all about the economics of good tasting coffee.

That picture..... thats not 'our girlfriend,' is it?

um, so why not go back to target and get another $19.99 Mr Coffee? (unless of course, your current one didn't last that long)...

I bought an $80 Cuisinart D1200 using a 20% off coupon from Bed Bath and Beyond. It's the single best coffeemaker I ever had. Has a small footprint, adjustable warming temp, timer and it looks good.

I had a horrible experience with Mr. Coffee pots that would work for about two weeks. Even though they replaced them under warranty, the replacements refused to work either.

I'm really not up to using a French press in the mornings. I grind the beans the night before, set the timer, and wake up to delicious coffee.

Yes, the best coffee is from the slow brew. The longer the beans are in contact with the beans, the more complex the taste. You need to try cold-brew (Coffee Toddy). We call it stone age coffee because it uses no heat in the actual brewing and we are assuming this is how people discovered what coffee was. You steep the beans for 24 hours, drain off the liquid and then mix individual cups at your desired strength with boiling water. The concentrate keeps for three weeks in the refrigerator.

The best benefit is that it is very low acid - and does not have the oils you get with hot process coffee (French Press coffee can actually raise your cholesterol)

My friend just registered for (and recieved!) a 300+ dollar monstrosity pod-type coffee maker for her bridal shower. All I know is, for that price, it had better do the dishes too. Meanwhile, I have my little cheapie Mr. Coffee from Target with the pre-set timer, which cost me, like, $14.99.

I'll take my overpriced Cuisinart that makes the best drip coffee that I've ever had over $19.99 special any day.

It has a timer (that we use).

Auto-shut off which saves you electricity in case you forget to shut it off. Saves money.

Reusable Gold filter that we've been using for 3+ years. Saves money.

Accurate water temperature.

A brew head water nozzle that spreads the water amongst all the grounds and not just the center ones.

A quality pot that does not stain like your Mr. Coffee.

Not to mention that it matches the decor of our kitchen.

No, I haven't done an ROI on the electricity or the filters....

Where were all of you wonderful people during the Starbucks thread, when everyone claimed that Starbucks coffee was fabulous and no one seemed to want to argue with them? This is why I'm at the consumerist: to help justify those strange and expensive gizmos, not the $5 cup of burnt-rubber starbucks that would end up costing the same as the most expensive coffee maker out there after two weeks. Thank you, Jozef, Jesseraub, and Buckler!

I just like expensive gadgets. And coffee. My cuisinart with the thermal carafe is actually the only thing I've ever bought from Williams-Sonoma. With fresh-ground coffee, it always makes a good pot. Probably not as good as a French Press, but who has time for that?

The timer features are great. It's nice being able to set up the coffee maker, set the timer, and go to bed. When you wake up your coffee is in the middle of being brewed and there's no wasted time in the morning making the coffee - precious couple minutes that could other wise be devoted to sleep.

If you're going to put ground coffee and water into a coffee maker the night before, why not plug the pot into an outlet timer? You can use any cheap electric coffee maker that way, and when you come to your senses and learn to delay grinding until just before brewing, then you'll have a spare outlet timer for other purposes!

I guess I'm the only one using a mason jar. ^_^ I do cold brewed -- better coffee I have never had! It's nice for if you have problems with the acidity of coffee (but still like to drink it). And once you make it, you have the concentrate ready to go for a week or so. And when I do want to kill my stomach, I still have my trusty Bialetti.

I am jealous of all the fancy bells and whistles my friends' coffee machines have, though. Some of them are so techy and cool, enough to make me (temporarily) think $300 isn't too much to spend on a good machine...

I have a Miele in-wall espresso maker that I think retails for $3000. (Don't judge.) The thing SUCKS. My french press ($6.99) makes the best coffee, by far. Of course, no one gasps at the french press.

Take a trip to your local thrift store. After our "lifeblood brewer" quit recently, we scored a nearly new 10-cup machine ... for $3!! Mornings are, once again, bearable ...

I've got probably about $2000 worth of coffee making equipment in the house. My daily cup is made with a $2 Melitta 1 cup pour over cone. I do heat the water in an electric kettle rather than the stove, but that's not a necessity.

I am a coffee fanatic.

I used to be a store manager at a Caribou Coffee, and I take the quality of my coffee seriously.

I have tried many different brewers, but the best I have found is the one I use at home, the Zojirushi EC-BD15.

They have them at Amazon for under eighty bucks.

Piping hot, thermal carafe, no hotplate to burn the brew. It has a timer, but I never use that. It is important to grind your coffee with a good-quality burr grinder just before brewing. It doesnt matter if it is "gourmet", or Eight O' Clock beans.

I recommend the Capresso 560 Infinity Burr Grinder. Now, the grinder actually costs more than the brewer, but it works really really well, and is easy to clean.

That is my four cents!

oh Ben, just start drinking Taster's Choice!

We grind our own (Fair Trade, bought in bulk from a Co-op and delivered by truck) in our Mr. Coffee (that someone gave us used) and we're happy with the result. Once in a blue moon we use our little Moka Express to make caffe'.

If there's any coffee left we freeze it ice cube trays for coffee smoothies (milk, coffee cubes, sugar and a banana). Yummy.
We only buy coffee from Starbuck's (or similar) about three times a year.

Invest in a coffee maker with a thermal carafe. (I bit the bullet this summer and got a Cuisinart 12-cup for $99.) It's worth every damn cent to have fresh, hot coffee that hasn't been cooking on a hot plate for the last hour.

I know a website with a great answer. I've got no association with these people whatsoever (other than a user who sent them feedback on a review, and requested they they add a new category).

Consumer Search. They do meta-reviews. That is, they don't go out and review items. Rather, they go through and find a great deal of reviews (formal, and then more informal things like Epinions) and then review the reviews (determine credibility, etc) to find the best items. It actually works better than you'd first think,

They have a review on coffee makers (updated August 2007) that you might want to visit. They divide their 'best' of _X_ into categories. Like best basic coffee maker (which you are looking for). Best connoisseur's coffee maker. Best to-go coffee maker. Then you can drill down into some more depth into their review process.

Anyhow, seriously awesome site to reference when you're looking to buy a new household item.

PS: For you, the recommend the Braun AromaDeluxe KF510. Approx $25.

I received a fancy $100 coffee maker as a wedding gift. It turns out that it didn't make very good coffee.

I bought an Aeropress and it is the best $25 I spent. I gave away the $100 machine and now only use this.

It is a simple plunger device similar to French Press, but makes coffee that tastes 10 times better and stronger without chunks of coffee grind in your cup. Another good thing is that it takes up hardly any room and can be stored in a drawer easily.

We have the Cuisinart with the thermal carafe from Williams-Sonoma. I bought it for my husband for Christmas one year after either another cheap coffeemaker's pump died, or he broke another glass carafe, I forget which. Anyhow, I don't drink coffee, but he swears by this machine, and it's been worth every penny. Buying a new carafe or machine every three months was just too annoying.

Here's another vote for the French press.

- It really does not take any longer to use the French press than it does to use the regular drip coffeemaker. This is because you should use the proper appliance to boil your water, an electric kettle. We use the Melitta Express Kettle, $20 at Target. It boils three cups of water in under five minutes. We set up his coffee and my tea at the same time and have them both ready in five minutes from the time the water boils to the minute we start to drink. That's under ten minutes, mostly unattended. Time yourself from the moment you start setting up the coffeepot to when it stops dripping and you have poured yourself a cup the way you like it, let alone how long it takes to make tea at the same time, and you'll see what I mean.

- The French press makes better coffee. Period.

- Every part of the French press is cleanable in soapy water, even soakable if necessary. Just try getting stale oils and water scum out of your electric machine. Don't try soaking it.

- Coffee does not contain cholesterol since it is a plant and plants just do not contain cholesterol. "Unfiltered" coffee has been shown in one study to have a small effect on cholesterol, but another study found that filtered coffee also has a small effect. The cream you put in the coffee has a far larger effect than either. In any event, if you have heart problems, you should probably reconsider whether it is advisable for you to drink stimulant beverages anyway.

@waxigloo: Meh, the Aeropress uses filters. More crap to buy. Wake me up when they make a resuable filter.

I've taken many a trip to Target with the intention of buying a coffee maker. And every time I get to the aisle and attempt to decide on one, I always end up convincing myself that 12$ French press from Ikea and my coarsely ground Trader Joe's coffee is way better than anything a Mr. Coffee could supply (aka: watered-down, lukewarm, bitter beverage.) I don't mind my coffee having a bit of "soot." In fact, I like it.

And for the record, French pressing some coffee takes boiling time + 4 minutes of sitting time. Which, is about as long as a coffee maker.

FRENCH PRESS FOREVER!!!!

I have the built in grinder cuisinart with the thermal carafe. but I have a very small nyc apartment, and i don't have room for a separate grinder - sometimes the space you save by having the "all in one" is worth the additional price tag.

My husband has used a Bodum press for years. I don't drink coffee all that often, but I admit that his tastes awesome, if a bit on the strong side. (*checks for hair on chest*) He uses the Colombian Supremo coffee beans from Whole Foods, grinding on the coarser end of the spectrum.

Ben,

Apparently your French press-generated coffee also affected your ability to use the proper homophones in your update.

It's intestinal TRACT and WRINGER. :)

I'm a caffeine addict, but I'm not really a huge fan of most coffee because the flavor is overpowering and overwhelming- I just have to water it down a bit (I'd say a 7-1 ratio of coffee to water) after it's done brewing and add a bit of sugar.. but when I want coffee, I want good coffee, and I know what good coffee tastes like.

So yeah, I'm one of those evil consumers that has created the demand for these froo frooey coffeemakers. My Cuisinart is fantastic and does all that extra stuff you mentioned and I love it. And I don't consider it to be terribly expensive for the added convenience- yeah it's $80 for a coffeemaker, but it's not as expensive as my espresso coffee maker combo that I happened to get from Lowe's. Quality matters!

However, take away my french press cup, and there's hell to pay.

mmmm... rocking a Saeco Aroma $299 semi-auto espresso maker here. it's absolutely rock solid. Why buy coffee from starbucks, why one can make there own, so much better? coupled with a $40 krups burr grinder it makes an awesome cafe crema.

@hypnotik_jello: oops with the typo. "their"/"there"

I second whoever recommended cold-brewing. The way I do it, I need to set it up 8-12 hours ahead of time (which I know is a dealbreaker for some), but it yields very strong, very smooth coffee - even from pre-ground folgers crap. Plus you can make enough for a week or so in one go, it requires very little effort, and the only equipment needed is a jug and some sort of strainer (french presses work well).

ditto everyone suggesting a thermal carafe. i bought my mom a krups w/ a glass-insulated carafe a few years ago for mother's day to replace a circa 1970 mr. coffee. she still loves it. last time i went to visit her, we had a cup of coffee early in the morning & went out for a few hours. we came back for lunch & had another cup - it was still nice & hot.

best idea EVER.

@bonzombiekitty:

your comment is entirely illogical. you are losing the same amount of sleep setting up the machine (big whoop, a whole 30 seconds) in the evening as you would in the morning. In addition, leaving grounds sitting out all night decreases flavor. Is there really nothing you can do for four minutes in the morning while the coffee is brewing, like make your lunch or a healthier breakfast?

@speedwell: And $4 buys a tiny pack of 350 filters. Sure, they're consumables -- but they're so very cheap, who cares?

(I love my Aeropress).

@speedwell: The Aeropress is much easier to clean than a french press, and (being filtered) doesn't have the cholestoral-increasing effect. Both of these are big wins for me -- I drink *lots* of coffee at work.

www.coffeegeek.com for some great coffee maker reviews as well as all other nerdy topics only a coffee lover could love.

Sadly, I'd recommend you get the Presto Scandinavian Drip Maker which brews coffee at the optimal ~200 degrees F and could have been had for only about $35, but it's been discontinued. :( It was compared to the $200 Technovorm, which is widely considered the best drip maker you can buy, but who the hell wants to spend 2 hundo on a drip maker?

I almost bought a coffe maker with the built in grinder, but I read in most of the comments that the grinder will wake you up before the fresh smell of coffee does, and that it's a royal pain to clean that eventually stops working. I wound up going with the Mr. Coffee with the timer (on sale at Target for $35) and a really good Capresso burr grinder (Thank God for saved up gift certificates). I grind it before I go to bed and set it up to brew in the AM. Nothing beats waking up to the smell of freshly ground coffee.

Just wanted to throw my hat in the "French Press Lovers" ring. Part of my morning ritual is grinding up some fresh beans, boiling some water and throwing it together with love into a press. You have not experienced coffee until you have had it the French Press way.

Geez people, it's coffee. Switch to tea for gosh sakes, join the rest of the civilized world.

I'm just joking, but just remember everyone, Starbucks is bad, brew your own, save money, save the enviornment, etc.

p.s. tea is pretty damn good, and for the record the last coffee maker (a black & decker) I got from a Lucky has been serving me quite well for several years now. Has a clock for morning brewing, but I rarely use it, just no time in the AM anymore. :P

Short of having a nubile French-speaking lass in a maid's uniform stretching across my bed bed every morning with a steaming cup of coffee - strong enough to stand a nail in, sweet and creamy enough to make a nine-year-old fat kid drool - there's nothing better than having my Cuisinart brewer lovingly dribble a pot of black gold as I'm taking my morning shower.

I suspect there are mythical people who awake refreshed and coordinated enough to pour water, dispense a filter, measure grounds and hit the switch without scattering grounds and water across the kitchen floor. I'm sure Loch Ness harbors Nessie, too. But I'm not one of them.

There's only one first cup of morning coffee, people. Make it count!

I think I paid something like $30 or $35 for my Mr. Coffee about 2 years ago and it's nothing fancy. It's got a small lcd clock and I can program it to go off at a preset time & start brewing so when I get up all I need to do is pour & enjoy. It came with "complimentary" charcoal filters (2) and a permanent filter (though I can use paper if I want, and I do when I don't feel like washing). I agree that by loading it up with too many features just to be able to charge more for it is bad, but when the functionality is worthwhile I don't see it as all that bad of a thing.

I haven't priced machines in 2 years so maybe they're really shot up in price? $40 over 2 years ago and probably thousands of quality java cups later seems like I got a good deal :shrug:

Im just sad that you can triple the price with unwanted gizmo's but you can't buy a quality appliance without ponying up for all the gizmos as well as the quality part.

i drink coffee first for the caffeine, and secondly for flavor. so i'll drink any coffee really. even sitting in the pot for two days, then heated in the microwave coffee. it all tastes the same to me. execpt folgers. i hate folgers! i have a 4cup mr coffee, no frills or extras, just enough for me.

and i think the really expensive coffee shop coffees taste like sh*t. but thats just me.